Every year, I buy a Christmas-themed bottle to enjoy during the festive season. This year, my choice fell on Paul John’s Christmas Edition 2018 – to my knowledge the first seasonal bottling from the Indian distillery. While the whisky itself does not bear an age statement, its makers were not shy to let us know how it came to be. The Christmas Edition 2018 is a vatting of 7-year-old malt whisky made from both peated and unpeated barley that was married in Oloroso sherry casks for another 1.5 years. Given the fact that barreled spirit ripens a lot quicker in the warm Indian climate than it does in Scotland or Ireland, a total of 8.5 years is quite a lengthy maturation. And it shows: The Paul John Christmas Edition 2018 is smooth, sweet and very, very tasty!
by Tobi
Eye: Like the well-waxed reddish brown leather seats of Santa’s sleigh.
Nose: The bouquet of the Christmas Edition 2018 is sweet, enticing and not too heavy. It has a lot of winterly notes like juicy tangerines, green fir needles, gooey toffee, warm honey cake and a good dose of cinnamon. The fruitiness from the Oloroso casks is clearly noticable, too. De-cember-licious!
Palate: Less sweet than the nose would suggest. Slightly sour red fruits dominate. Additionally, there’s cocoa powder, gingerbread, oranges and spices. The longer you keep it in your mouth, the drier it becomes. If there is really any smoke in there, it is very thin and subtle.
Finish: In the course of the mid-long finish, the whisky gets sweeter again. Figs. Apples. Brown sugar. Milk chocolate. Mmmh-acadamia nuts.
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- The dram
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- The label
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- In the glass
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- Promo shot (taken from Facebook.com/PaulJohnWhisky)
Type: Indian Single Malt Whisky
Region: India
Age: NAS
Alc. volume: 46 per cent
# of bottles: 3,000
Bottle size: 0.7 litres
Price range: ~55.00 Euro
More info: https://pauljohnwhisky.com/ (Distillery) ; http://www.bremerspirituosencontor.de/ (Importer)
BarleyMania | Whisky & Whiskey 
This year my husband and I decided that we will just get each other one gift, a bottle of something tasty for under the tree. I still haven’t decided what his gift will be.
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That is lovely! Do you have something in mind already? If so, don’t say it… just in case he stumbles upon this blog as well. :D
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Honestly I’m not quite sure yet. I’ll have to see what our liquor store has that he hasn’t already tried. That might be a challenge!
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The good thing is there’s ALWAYS something tasty that you haven’t tried yet! :)
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So I ended up getting Glenmorangie Extremely Rare 18 yr. Single Malt. I thought it would be a nice nod to our upcoming May Scotland trip. I’m planning for us to tour the Glenmorangie Distillery. :)
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I’ve never been to Glenmorangie so far, but I’m sure that it’s a great place to check out. Their whisky is fantastic!
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Yes, it definitely is.
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I’ve yet to try this Paul John – it truly sounds delicious!
We finally opened the Olorosso – 3 years in ex Bourbon and 4 years in Sherry – it was quite spectacular.
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Oh, the Oloroso one sounds really good as well. Four years in a sherry cask in that climate must be spectacular!
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Nice review. Need to try it
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Cheers! You won’t regret this… it’s a great whisky, for sure.
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